Abstract
When exposed to high-energy radiations, the silicate aggregates used in concrete can exhibit some swelling. This, in turn, can result in some internal stress, which can lead to micro-cracks or de-bonding along the cement–aggregate interface. However, there is presently some uncertainty regarding the long-term effect of such high-energy irradiation on aggregates and the associated risk of cracking and failure. Here, based on atomistic simulations, we investigate the effect of neutron irradiation on eight silicate minerals belonging to three different mineralogical families. We demonstrate that the irradiation-induced alterations do not depend on the silicate family but rather on the inherent structure and composition of each mineral. Interestingly, we show that vitrification can be used as a surrogate to assess the upper limit of irradiation-induced swelling. Further, we observe that this swelling potentially leads to high internal stresses, which can result in the initiation and propagation of cracks. These findings can guide the selection of optimal aggregate minerals for which the risk of concrete failure upon irradiation is minimized.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 126-136 |
| Number of pages | 11 |
| Journal | Journal of Nuclear Materials |
| Volume | 512 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Dec 15 2018 |
Funding
This research was performed using funding received from the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy's Nuclear Energy University Programs. The authors also acknowledge financial support for this research provided by: The Oak Ridge National Laboratory operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by UT-Battelle (LDRD Award Number: 4000132990 and 4000143356), National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1562066, the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India under the INSPIRE faculty scheme (DST/INSPIRE/04/2016/002774), Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, and the University of California, Los Angeles. Computational resources were provided by University of California Los Angeles, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi HPC facility and San Diego Super Computer Center as part of the HPC@UC program. This manuscript has been co-authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract: DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). This research was performed using funding received from the DOE Office of Nuclear Energy's Nuclear Energy University Programs . The authors also acknowledge financial support for this research provided by: The Oak Ridge National Laboratory operated for the U.S. Department of Energy by UT-Battelle (LDRD Award Number: 4000132990 and 4000143356 ), National Science Foundation under Grant No. 1562066 , the Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India under the INSPIRE faculty scheme ( DST/INSPIRE/04/2016/002774 ), Indian Institute of Technology Delhi , and the University of California, Los Angeles . Computational resources were provided by University of California Los Angeles, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi HPC facility and San Diego Super Computer Center as part of the HPC@UC program. This manuscript has been co-authored by UT-Battelle, LLC under Contract: DE-AC05-00OR22725 with the U.S. Department of Energy. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, worldwide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan ( http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan ).
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| DOE Office of Nuclear Energy | |
| Nuclear Energy University Programs | |
| UT-Battelle | |
| UT-Battelle, LLC | DE-AC05-00OR22725 |
| National Science Foundation | 1562066 |
| U.S. Department of Energy | |
| Office of Nuclear Energy | |
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory | 4000143356, 4000132990 |
| Laboratory Directed Research and Development | |
| University of California, Los Angeles | |
| Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India | DST/INSPIRE/04/2016/002774 |
| Indian Institute of Technology Delhi |
Keywords
- Concrete
- Molecular dynamics
- Radiation damage
- Silicate minerals
- Swelling